I am a veterinarian, and I…

I am a veterinarian, and I have worked with wildlife for many years. I would like to share my professional perspective, as someone who has observed the behaviour of wild animals in captivity and in the wild:

This proposal, if it passes, is a regression in environmental and scientific progress. If Ford or any other policy-maker had a background in science, animal behaviour or animal welfare, they would realize that this is inhumane. Reading the proposal makes me incredulous, as it violates the basic principles of animal welfare. In the past years, there has been a huge push-back against canned hunting and English fox and hound-type hunting. It's now being recognized as archaic and backwards, as it causes huge mental distress to wildlife, and prolongs their suffering before their death. A death that does not tend to be quick or painless either.

There are hundreds of scientific studies outlining the increase in cortisol (stress hormone) and behavioural changes that wild species display when we are in their territory. A territory that is ever-shrinking since environmental protections seem to be diminishing under the current provincial government. To take that a step further and ensure that wild species cannot avoid us and WILL be stressed and prevented from exhibiting natural behaviours, in the name of training hunting dogs, is shocking. Rabbits, for one, are flight animals and will do all within their power to avoid predatory species (including dogs). They have a sensitive sense of smell and WILL know when dogs are present.

Frankly, wildlife should not be contained, especially in the manner described in this proposal, and allowing this to happen on private land opens the doors for lack of regulation and abuse.

We have to ask ourselves if our entertainment is worth causing suffering and distress to other creatures.